Incredible as it may seem, MAD magazine's first issue hit the newsstands back in 1952. At the time, I was merely one year and three months old so, understandably, I was unaware of its existence. The date of publication for MAD #1, was October/November, 1952 and it was a late entry in the Entertaining Comics (EC) line, which by 1952 was already publishing TALES FROM THE CRYPT, VAULT OF HORROR, THE HAUNT OF FEAR, CRIME SUSPENSTORIES, SHOCK SUSPENSTORIES, WEIRD SCIENCE, WEIRD FANTASY, TWO-FISTED TALES and FRONTLINE COMBAT. EC's publisher William B. Gaines was unusual and innovative, to say the least. Upon the death of his father in a boating accident, Gaines, at the age of 25, was suddenly faced with the ownership and management of the comic book company.
Along with Harvey Kurtzman, his comic book editor, Bill Gaines conspired to put out a humor comic which was intended to be utterly unique and unlike anything else on the newsstands of the day.
And so, MAD was born!
In the summer of 1955, Kurtzman convinced Gaines to turn the comic book into a magazine. The first magazine issue sold out and actually went back to press for a second printing! Within a year, MAD's original contributors, Kurtzman, Will Elder and Jack Davis left because of editorial differences with Gaines so Al Feldstein took over as editor and MAD's circulation and fame continued to rise.
The further details of how MAD Magazine grew to become the iconic humor magazine known to so many generations of faithful readers, are easily found elsewhere on the internet so I won't go into that. My own experience as a MAD reader began with issue #95 from June 1965, when I saw it on display at a magazine rack in a local store and convinced my doubting father to buy it for me.
From that moment on, I was hooked on the irreverent and wild humor of MAD and tried to get every issue of the magazine I could find.
Soon enough, I developed a taste for the artwork and began to study the drawing style of some of the Usual Gang of Idiots, picking out my favorite contributors:
JACK RICKARD
DON MARTIN
JACK DAVIS
DAVE BERG
AL JAFFEE's marvelous Fold-Ins!
Jaffee's Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions were hilarious!
And of course, my top favorite, the immortal MORT DRUCKER!
I especially enjoyed his treatment of Sean Connery's James Bond!
Who can forget those silly fake ads?
And the unforgettable bonus flexi-disc which came attached to the Ninth Annual Edition of the Worst from MAD, with Alfred E. Neuman "vocalizing"?
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Yes! I was a devoted fan of MAD Magazine!
That is, until about the year 2000 when most of the original Gang of Idiots had left and the humor began to fade becoming less and less relevant, at least for me. That's when I stopped buying the magazine and satisfied myself with reading and rereading the old material, over and over again.
And to think MAD is only a year younger than me!
WHAT - ME, WORRY?
